Prime Minister Stephen Harper was forced to step into an embarrassing political battle Wednesday involving one of his MPs, asking the Conservative party to review a riding association’s series of stinging complaints against Eve Adams.

Someone asked me whether the continued coverage of the Dimitri Soudas/Eve Adams meltdown in this space means I harbour ambitions to write for Hello! magazine.

It’s true there are more important things going on in the world. But few are as captivating and bleak as the Shakespearean tragedy that has already seen Mr. Soudas fired as executive director of the Conservative Party and now threatens to have Ms. Adams blocked as a potential candidate in the riding of Oakville North Burlington.

To recap – Mr. Soudas, the Prime Minister’s former take-no-prisoners communications director, landed the top job in the party, with a generous annual stipend of around $300,000. The only stipulation was that he did not dabble in the nomination contest in Oakville, where his fiancé, Ms. Adams, had declared an interest in running.

Questions were also raised about whether Harper should turf Adams as parliamentary secretary to the health minister, following allegations from a Conservative riding association that Adams interfered in the riding’s nomination race, bullied board members, and may have improperly used her MP privileges and the party database of members’ names and addresses.

It’s another black eye for the Conservatives and the second time in as many weeks that party brass are investigating a Tory MP for potential inappropriate conduct in a nomination contest.

The political brouhaha in the Oakville North-Burlington nomination could be a taste of things to come, as electoral boundary redistribution and open party nominations mean incumbent MPs of all stripes could face heated internal skirmishes leading up to the 2015 federal election.

Conservative MP Rob Anders was scolded last week by the party for “inappropriate and misleading” phone calls placed to grassroots supporters during the nomination battle in Calgary Signal Hill.

This time around, Harper had to directly step in to deal with the Adams affair. The prime minister was on the hot seat in the House of Commons over whether he has asked Adams to step down from her role as parliamentary secretary – a question he declined to answer.

Harper Wednesday asked the Conservative Party of Canada’s national council to review a scathing letter of complaint from the constituency board about Adams’s behaviour.

The letter from riding president Mark Fedak came after longtime Harper loyalist Dimitri Soudas was forced out Sunday as executive director of the Conservative party, because he had become personally involved in the nomination battle of Adams, his fiancée.

In its letter to Harper, the Oakville riding’s board highlighted a number of concerns, including how the whole affair may be damaging the Conservative brand, especially if Adams is shown to have misused taxpayer-funded resources.

“Clearly the Senate scandal of last year is only recently behind us. We all know how the actions of a few, or even one, can hurt the reputation of the entire party, the thousands of volunteers and our parliamentary caucus,” Fedak says in the letter, signed by him and other board members.

Conservative MPs spoke cautiously Wednesday about the imbroglio.

Transport Minister Lisa Raitt said she has not yet talked to Adams about the controversy. Asked about the Oakville-area riding association’s complaints, Raitt suggested that would be a problem for Adams if she ever became the riding’s candidate.

“Everybody should always try to make sure that if you’re going to be seeking the candidacy or if you’re the MP for the area, that you continue with a constructive relationship with your board because you need to have it, because they’re the ones who are planning for election readiness,” Raitt said.

Treasury Board president Tony Clement refused to directly comment on Adams, but said it will be up to all Conservatives who seek nominations to “win fairly and according to the rules.”

Conservative MP Larry Miller said it’s too soon to cast judgment on the actions of Adams, who did not attend Wednesday’s weekly Conservative caucus meeting.

“Lookit, people make mistakes sometimes and maybe this investigation will show that they did or they didn’t,” he said. “All I can say is I don’t care who the colleague is in our caucus. If somebody abuses the rules, then they should suffer the consequences. But until we know that for sure, I think we should just leave it at that.”

The letter raises the following concerns about recent actions by Adams

– They believe Adams may have interfered in the board’s election preparedness plans, including blocking them from getting coloured maps illustrating results from the last couple of elections, as well as demographic data. “We are perplexed as to how someone who was never elected, either by nomination, or through a general election can veto suppliers to our EDA.”

– Some Conservative party members in the riding have been complaining of Adams’s unauthorized use of their personal information contained in the party’s CIMS database (Constituency Information Management System), when she’s “a member of Parliament who has no history with them on a personal level and does not represent them in Parliament.”

– They say Adams arrived at their March 19 board meeting without notice or request and refused to leave, despite being asked nine times to leave the meeting. “But rather she continued to hijack the meeting,” he wrote. “During the first 20 minutes of her appearance she went from arguing her right to be there due to her MP and member status but then started to verbally abuse at least four members of the Board directly.”

– The board questions Adams’s use of her taxpayer-funded MP mailing privileges, saying the board “has been shocked by the constant flow of mail by Eve Adams into the riding of Oakville North-Burlington.” The mailings have raised concerns, they say, about whether party data is being used within the rules; if taxpayers’ money is being wasted for personal gain; how the mailings are reflecting on the party brand; why Adams is hiding which riding she represents in the mailings; and whether the mailings are being paid for through her campaign account, as required by Elections Canada.

– The board also says it’s alarmed that longtime party member and regional organizer Wally Butts was fired from his position after he raised some of the board’s concerns to Fred DeLorey, the party’s director of political operations and to Soudas, who ultimately fired Butts. They say that the party’s explanation that Butts was fired as part of restructuring “does not seem to pass the smell test.”

Soudas, Adams’ fiance, was sacked for breaching a contract that stated he would not help Adams win the nomination in Oakville. The Conservative caucus was unhappy at Soudas’ attempts to game the process, but it is said to be no less irate at Adams’ aggressive campaigning.

In one case, Soudas showed up at an Adams fundraiser held by an Oakville, Ont. financial planner, even though his contract specified he steer clear of the nomination fight.

“The impression was he was getting personally involved in Ms. Adam’s efforts to get the nomination,” said Ontario MP David Tilson. “Particularly in his position, that’s inappropriate.”

A Conservative source also said there was evidence a door-to-door canvass for Adams had been organized from Soudas’s office at party headquarters. The source spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak publicly.

Sources say the situation became so uncomfortable that even Harper could no longer stand by Soudas, who worked for the PM, on-and-off, for a decade.

The nomination race has not yet been opened in Oakville North Burlington but Adams has been energetic in staging photo opportunities that have upset Conservative MPs who will have parts of their constituency carved off to make up the new riding. They have also complained that Adams has presented herself as the party’s candidate in the new riding.

Questions have also been raised over an Adams campaign brochure that contains glowing endorsements from six cabinet ministers.

There are suggestions that at least some of the testimonials were given on the understanding they would apply to Adams’ current seat in nearby Mississauga Brampton South, not the safer seat where she hopes to run in the next election.

Gary Goodyear, the minister of state for the Federal Economic Development Agency for Southern Ontario, is quoted as saying: “I cannot think of a better representative for Oakville North Burlington than Eve Adams.”

However, his communications director, Stephanie Thomas, said the quote was intended to endorse Adams running in her Mississauga riding.

Denis Lebel, the minister of infrastructure, communities and inter-governmental affairs, is quoted as saying: “I endorse Eve unequivocally to be our Conservative MP in Oakville North Burlington.” When his spokeswoman was asked if Mr. Lebel stands by the endorsement, she said: “No comment.”

The other likely candidate in Oakville North Burlington is a local chiropractor. John Mykytyshyn, a member of Lishchyna’s campaign team, questioned why ministers would not back up their endorsements. “It either means they have pulled their support or it was never there to begin with. It raises a bunch of questions,” he said

“All endorsements are in writing and personally signed by the individual minister making the endorsement,” Adams said, when reached in the riding she hopes to represent on Tuesday.

The brochure also features shots of Adams with the Prime Minister, Jim Flaherty, the former finance minister, and His Royal Highness Prince William.